Bombardier says stands behind Toronto streetcar bid

TORONTO (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO said on Friday
it stands behind its bid to win a big contract to replace
Toronto's aging streetcar fleet, saying it does not understand
complaints from the city's transit authority that its proposed
new vehicles couldn't take tight turns.

"We believe the bid is compliant," said David Slack, a
spokesman for Bombardier's transportation division, noting that
the company had not been provided with enough additional
information from the Toronto Transit Commission to understand
what the problem is.

The TTC said late on Thursday, that Bombardier's bid was
not compliant with the technical specifications it had set out
and that the proposed streetcars would not be able to handle
some of the tight turns on Toronto's track network.

Slack said that, based on the information released on
Thursday, "We had our engineers work all night to try to
understand the issue and, at this point, we don't understand
it."

He added that Bombardier, the world's largest train maker,
has requested an immediate meeting with the TTC.

A spokesman for Siemens said that if the requirements for
the proposal, including technical and financial specifications,
were to change, the company would be interested in submitting a
bid.

But the TTC said it will not change the specifications it
outlined in the original request for proposals. They include
the requirement that the streetcars be completely wheelchair
accessible, and that at least 25 percent of the content for the
vehicles' design and construction would be Canadian.

The contract also has an option to purchase up to an
additional 364 streetcars over the next 15 years, as part of a
plan to expand the use of light rail and rapid transit across
Canada's biggest city.
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